Winter comes unexpectedly not only in Russia. Weather forecasters had predicted snow fall in Jerusalem on December 11, but the reality surpassed all forecasts, reports the website of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission (Moscow Patriarchate) in Jerusalem.

After rain with gale, which poured for a whole day, it was snowing with hurricane force winds non-stop for three following days. Over 50 centimeters of snow fell in Jerusalem. According to the information of meteorological observations, nothing of the kind has happened over last 100 years.

Christmas Message 2013 from the World Council of Churches general secretary

In New Testament accounts of the Nativity, humble shepherds watch their flocks by night while wise scholars, travelling in the east, look up at the same night’s sky and discern something new amid the rotation of stars. They were all open for a move, to see something, someone that brings hope for the world.

The Pope (Patriarch) Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa has congratulated the Orthodox Missionary Brotherhood, which was founded in 1963, on its "golden" anniversary, thanking it for its self-sacrificing work that now embraces the whole continent.